The Association of Chief Police Officers, Terrorism and Allied Matters (ACPO, TAM) business area has responsibility for devising and driving national Counter Terrorism (CT) and Domestic Extremism (DE) strategic policy and reports to ACPO and the government. TAM’s members include ACPO officers, senior representatives of government departments and other agencies including the Security Service.

The ACPO (TAM) business area leads for the police service on CT and related issues, developing police service policy and strategy. The business area liaises with government and other partners on behalf of the police service.

Unlike many other ACPO business areas, TAM includes a small number of chief police officers dedicated full-time to the business area. These officers provide strategic direction and co-ordination relating to particular policing themes. In addition, the (TAM) Vice Chairs have also assumed complementary roles as senior sponsors of policing themes that largely reflect the Protect, Prepare and Prevent strands of the government's counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST .

ACPO (TAM) has also overseen the development of the counter-terrorism network, a series of dedicated CT policing units that have been established across England and Wales, working in collaboration with the (pre-existing) Counter Terrorism Command (CTC), within the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). These units are regionally based and resourced by police forces. Their role includes gathering intelligence and evidence to help prevent, disrupt and prosecute terrorist activities. As a whole, the CT policing network has a wide range of experts including, but not limited to, skilled detectives, financial investigators, community contact teams, intelligence analysts, forensic specialists and high-tech investigators.